Review Tour: Wolf and the Holly by Sam Burns (w/ giveaway)

Hello my lovely readers, I hope you have had a great weekend so far.

Today I want tio share my review of Sam Burn’s second book in the Rowan Harbor Cycle series, Wolf and the Holly. If you’re now curious what’s the book about, scroll down & read the blurb & also check this post out for a giveaway. 🙂

*~~*ARC kindly provided by the author to me in exchange for an honest review *~~*

The second book in the Rowan Harbor series starts with a kind of interlude of introducing the book’s main character Jesse, but reveals actually less than expected, at least for the moment. The first quarter is about the upcoming danger and when Jesse and Devon find their childhood friend Isla attacked and unconsciousness in a lonely alley, it’s time to overthink the security in the small town.

I really liked how the book focused first on Jesse, how we get to know him better, but how he still remaines a slightly mystery to the reader, even if his fears, his vulnerable sides are shown as well as his adorable quirks.

I also loved how the friendships and dynamics in the town was displayed, how Devon and Wade are an couple and being domestic with each other (with being sweet but without being sappy), but also how Jesse is struggling to fulfill his family’s expectations to be the new alpha wolf. How this is a large burden for him and how he feels like a failure.

When Jesse meets Sean, it’s a pleasant and warming greeting, and although he isn’t aware how much Sean has changed and vice versa, Jesse knows him vaguely through mutual friends and small encounters.
Sean’s behaviour and calm attitude is a slight contrast to his appearance and his build. I especially loved how shy and timid he was, how he blushed when he asked for Jesse’s help and the unexpected side we saw from Jesse with his love for numbers, statistics and math in general.

The book is because of its focus a bit slow burn, as I mentioned the first quarter is almost exclusively about Jesse, his friend Devon, his brother Wade and the other town’s people as well as the appearance of strange vampire Sal, who has an obvious history with Cassie, and makes everybody slightly nervous & fearfully about his reason to visit Rowan Harbor.

I loved how the tension & thrill was there, how the whole series is more and more build around the characters, their development and their relationships between them, may it the love stories or the friendships.
I admit as a reader you have to like or be fond of to switch from one pairing to another over the single books, keep a lot of details in mind, remember a bunch of names, but in the end, it’s pretty obvious now, it will be a pretty huge “universe”, with a lot of interesting and unique characters worth to “get to know”.

I loved this second book as much as the first one, therefore 5 out of 5 stars. 🙂

Five years ago, Jesse dropped out of college and came home to Rowan Harbor to find safety with his pack. A broken man, he’s been living as though the world is ending—allergic to responsibility and spending most of his nights at the local bar.

But he can’t avoid growing up forever. On the night of his thirtieth birthday party, he finds his childhood friend Isla unconscious, attacked in the middle of their peaceful hometown. The wolf inside him wants to protect its people from the slick-haired, smooth-talking vampire who’s brought trouble to town, and Jesse can’t run from his instincts any longer.

Now that his inner wolf is out of its cage, it’s picked the most inconvenient moment to find its mate. Sean Anderson—recently back from college and much changed from the skinny preteen Jesse once knew—is just what he never knew he needed.

This is the second of nine books in The Rowan Harbor Cycle, not a standalone. It continues where the first book left off. Jesse and Sean will return in book five to continue their story, so this book contains a HFN, not their HEA.

Sam wrote her first fantasy epic with her best friend when she was ten. Like almost any epic fiction written by a ten year old, it was awful. She likes to think she’s improved since then, if only because she has better handwriting now.

If she’s not writing, she’s almost certainly either reading or lost down a wikipedia rabbit hole while pretending to research for a novel.